Emotions run high over plan in Lehman

Saturday

Jan 6, 2007 at 12:01 AMJan 6, 2007 at 12:34 AM

BUSHKILL — The marathon meeting to review the master plan for Highland Village, the huge housing development that would transform Lehman Township, drew to a close without any firm decisions on Thursday night. But the packed, standing-room-only crowd attested to the strong emotions the project has generated.

DAN BERRETT

BUSHKILL — The marathon meeting to review the master plan for Highland Village, the huge housing development that would transform Lehman Township, drew to a close without any firm decisions on Thursday night. But the packed, standing-room-only crowd attested to the strong emotions the project has generated.

"I think it's crazy," said Maureen Donnelly, as she walked out of the Lehman Township building with her husband, Bryan.

The couple bought their second home in nearby Tamiment three years ago. They had traveled from their first home in Old Bridge, N.J., to attend Thursday's meeting because the project worried them. "We came here to get away," she said.

Thursday's meeting was continued for another two weeks, until Jan. 18 at 5:30 p.m., according to John Sivick, chairman of the board of supervisors.

"We want to digest what we heard and give the public additional time to attend the meeting," Sivick said. Sivick said that supervisors would use the next meeting to question the developers, who had presented their plans on Thursday.

Highland Village, as planned and presented, would be the largest residential development in northeast Pennsylvania. Built in seven phases between 2008 and about 2025, the development would bring as many as 5,400 units to 2,500 acres of land between Mountain Laurel Center for the Arts and the former Tamiment Resort and Conference Center.

Approval of the master plan marks just one step in the process. Each of the seven phases of the development would have to come before the township before final approval for construction could be granted.

Some township residents fear the project's impact on the environment and traffic, among other things.

"Will the roads be able to handle it?" Bryan Donnelly wondered after he left the meeting.

During testimony, Matthew Hammond, a traffic specialist for the development, said an additional traffic lane will be built on Bushkill Falls Road.

To Charlie Harsche, such an expansion raised the specter of cars clogging winding country roads even more than they are now. "We're going to have carbon monoxide up the nose," he said.

A resident of Pocono Ranchlands for nine years, Harsche said that Highland Village's promises to improve the area reminded him of similarly rosy predictions made about Mountain Laurel before it was launched.

The center, which opened in 2003, has been troubled for years. In March, Wolfington Companies bought the center and the surrounding land, some of which it is using to develop Highland Village.

"In my eyes, why do we need improvement?" Harsche asked.

Sivick said he had hoped Thursday's meeting would help the public get correct information about the project.

Dennis Glackin, a financial specialist in land planning, said all three of the taxing bodies — Lehman Township, Pike County and the East Stroudsburg Area School District — will see heavy cash surpluses from the development. But Bob Gress, a school board member, said he was skeptical of these projections as he exited the meeting.

The scope of the project itself has also worried some current residents. By attracting some 12,000 people, the development would more than double the population of the township, which the 2000 Census lists as 7,500.

"It's like they're moving Stroudsburg up the mountain," Bryan Donnelly said. Actually, it's more like two Stroudsburgs.

"It's the worst thing that could happen to the township," said Scott Hanna, who has lived across from the township building for 16 years. "Nobody around here wants it because the infrastructure is so down in the dumps."

Hanna also cast a wary eye toward the residents that the development might bring. "What kind of people are they trying to recruit? No decent people are moving here."

About 100 people crammed into the township's meeting hall on Thursday night to listen discussions of the proposed development. Another two dozen stood in the hallway outside, craning their necks for shards of information.

Several people walked out, unhappy that a larger meeting space had not been selected. But Sivick said that typical township meetings only attract a handful of people, and that putting it in a different space posed risks.

"When you go moving it, you lose people," he said.

Sivick said the Jan. 18 meeting is slated to take place at the Lehman Township building.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.